The influence of annealing temperature, As-4 beam equivalent pressure and multi-runs growth on AlGaAs/GaAs structures was investigated. The real space ultrahigh vacuum scanning tunneling microscopy images showed that AlGaAs/GaAs surface morphology greatly depends on annealing conditions and initial state of surface. The reasons of the surface phenomenon are proposed, and a physical model was proposed to explain why the multi-runs growth structures can increase AlGaAs surface roughness. The reasonable preparation conditions for AlGaAs/GaAs structures were proposed. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.